Among other things, the opinions of a former member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police force. My take on the world in general and one thing in particular - a commentary on the current situation in Zimbabwe. I am not a journalist, nor a political activist, but I am a man with a conscience. Hence, this page is my civic responsibility. The more people that hear about the devastating rule in Zimbabwe and the problems therein, the better!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tuesday, 12th February 2013

Howzit

Believe it or not, there was snow again
last weekend, and, if the newspapers are right, there is more snow due this
evening – a few inches at least…

And, I have read, the cold snap is due
to continue until the end of the month.

And last week B and I celebrated my
fiftieth birthday. I suppose I am now an official ‘L’ plate owner…

Recently I have had two instances where
I have been accused by authorities for ‘forgetting’ something. To explain - at
the beginning of this year I received a letter following an application by
myself to a government office for their help. In their letter they ask for a
letter from someone who has dealt with me for many years for a letter of
support.

Once I had produced a letter as
requested, I was dumbfounded to have the letter asked for rejected as the
person had ‘forgotten’ to include information that was never asked for in the
original letter!

I had to go for a chest x-ray recently.
Having had the x-ray, I was accused of having ‘forgotten’ to remove my
necklace. Given that the technician never said anything and that there are no
signs admonishing me to remove my necklace, how could I have ‘forgotten’ to
remove my necklace if I wasn’t told or reminded to do so in the first place?

And try and argue your way out of the accusation
and see how far that gets you…

-o00o-

I find it almost objectionable that
Kate Hoey should feel that debate is required over the downing of the two
Viscounts in the late 1970s. At the time of the atrocities, not one member of
the free world uttered one word with regard to the actions of the ZIPRA
combatants – so why start now?

Zimbabwe and Britain are set for a new diplomatic spat over a
controversial House of Commons motion by a Labour MP condemning the 1979 shooting down of a
passenger plane by ZIPRA fighters.

The Air Rhodesia Viscount Flight RH827 had just taken off from
Kariba when it came down on February 12, 1979, after being struck by a Strela 2
missile.

Fifty-five passengers flying to Salisbury, now Harare, and four crew members perished in the incident which came at the height of an armed resistance against white minority rule.

Now at least six British MPs have signed an Early Day Motion
proposed by Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey condemning the downing of Flight RH827 – the second such
attack after another incident a year earlier in which Air Rhodesia Flight RH825with 56 people on board was shot down by ZIPRA freedom fighters.

In the first attack - also in Kariba - on September 3, 1978, 48 people were killed, 10 of them it is claimed were executed on the ground. There were eight survivors.

Hoey’s motion - which is unlikely to be debated in the Commons but
aims to draw attention to the two incidents - coincides with Tuesday’s 34th anniversary of the shooting down of Flight RH827.

The motion, tabled on February 5 and titled ‘Viscount Massacres’,
proposes: “That this House notes that 12 February 2013 will mark the 34th anniversary of the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Viscount Flight RH827 (the Umniati) by
members of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in the former
Rhodesia resulting in the death of all on board; further notes that this was
the second such shooting down of civilian airliners by ZIPRA and followed the
shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight RH825 (the Hunyani) by the same means on 3
September 1978; further notes that the 107 victims comprised civilian men,
women and children, some of whom survived the crash of the Hunyani and were
subsequently murdered on the ground by bayoneting and shooting; further notes that
the victims included citizens from Switzerland, Scotland, Belgium, New Zealand,
the UK and South Africa; recalls that the failure to officially condemn these
atrocities, as articulated in the sermon by the late Very Reverend John da
Costa known as The Deafening Silence, was an act of moral cowardice and
deplores such failure; and commends the work done by Keith Nell and his
Viscount Down Team to ensure that these atrocities are not forgotten and their
ongoing efforts to alleviate suffering amongst the pensioner community of
Zimbabwe. This motion has been signed by a total of 6 MPs.”

Early Day Motions are formal proposals submitted for debate in the
House of Commons, but very few are actually debated.

The motions are used to publicise the views of individual MPs,
drawing attention to specific events or campaigns, and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.

The subject is very emotive and the fact that six British MPs have
associated themselves with the motion will be met with anger in Harare.

Dumiso Dabengwa, ZIPRA’s former commander, stormed on Sunday:
“When it happened, it was war time.

“We are very curious... they should come in the open and say
exactly what they want.” Dabengwa said worse atrocities were committed by Rhodesian forces,
and that the new government in independent Zimbabwe had declared amnesty for all war crimes.

“They [former colonisers] suggested the issue of amnesty and it
was taken on board. The amnesty was to make no-one responsible for crimes committed during war time.

“For them it was a way of protecting Ian Smith and company from
the atrocities they committed. Since they have moved a motion, shall we go back and mention numerous occasions that they massacred our people?

“They want to start a condemnation war and we will take them on
because we have the evidence where British racists and special forces did horrible things to us. Let them start the issue and we will not keep quiet.”

Tendai Kwari, the UK spokesman for the Mavambo-Kusile party
led by Simba Makoni, also condemned the motion in a letter to Hoey on Sunday.

He said he was “saddened, annoyed and surprised” by the move,
adding: “I would like to remind the Honourable MP that her motion is opening healing wounds, especially amongst black Zimbabweans.

“Thousands of poor Zimbabwean refugees were massacred by the
Rhodesians at Tembue and Chimoio [Mozambique]. These two camps had schools and
clinics and thousands of people were butchered. We also would demand for answers...”

You know, we have the war veterans
crying about what they did during the bush war, but mention the word “Rhodesia” and out
come the unsubstantiated allegations about atrocities purportedly carried out
by the Rhodesian security forces.

How come these have never been
substantiated?

And I see that ZIPRA have issued a
statement that seeks to justify the downing of the Viscounts. They say that
General Walls was a passenger and they were targeting him. They deny that any
survivors were killed on the ground.

They even say that the civilian
airliners had been painted grey to make their passage harder to follow. The
exhausts of the engines of the aircraft were painted another colour to thwart
the heat-seeking missiles – nothing more.

-o00o-

It would appear that not
all is well in the ZANU PF camp. As each day goes by, there is a growing
tension about the succession to the helm of ZANU PF. Mugabe turns 89 next week
and can’t really carry on much longer…

A Zanu PF faction led by Defence minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa fears he may be the target of a suspected factional crackdown that led to the suspension of the Mike Madiro-led executive over alleged embezzlement of over $700000.

Top Zanu PF insiders yesterday told the Daily News on Sunday that
there are mounting fears that a process of “freezing out” the Mnangagwa faction is starting in the wake of a damning report into financial malpractices arising from cash allegedly collected from diamond mining firms in Chiadzwa.

Until now, Mnangagwa has been a powerful figure leading the race
to succeed President Robert Mugabe.

All the officials were suspended from carrying any duties or
activities in the name of the party.

“This is in light of the current investigations being conducted by
the ZRP into allegations of fraud, corruption, theft, embezzlement, or dishonesty that have been levelled against you,” their letter of suspension said.

“By copy of this letter, therefore, you are hereby suspended with
immediate effect without prejudice to any due processes that may ensue in line with the constitution of the party.”

The attempt to sideline Mnangagwa loyalists over corruption
allegations will undermine his campaign that has been running for the past four years to win public support for his position as Mugabe’s heir apparent.

The strategy has been largely successful, showing growing backing
for him to take over from Mugabe.

The Mnangagwa faction has been uneasy for some time that their
influence could be diminished from corruption charges, which are now being handled by the police.

Mutasa said the suspensions were based on the police probe.

Now the Mnangagwa faction, which was rebuilding its base from the foiled 2004 Tsholotsho coup plot, is anxious the Defence supremo may be targeted in
this latest debacle.

The 2004 plot sought to block the elevation of Mujuru to the vice presidency, and at the end, it claimed the scalp of six provincial chairpersons, including Madiro.

Ironically, investigations into the Manicaland diamond saga were
reportedly initiated by Mujuru when she was the acting president during Mugabe’s annual
vacation in December.

Such worries came remarkably to the fore last week, when charges
against the Manicaland executive were pursued even though affidavits deposed by
diamond mining executives suggested that no cash exchanged hands.

Given that the matter was brought to the attention of the police
by Mutasa, who in turn alerted Mujuru, the Mnangagwa faction thinks this is just the start of a process that could be aimed at freezing the Chirimhanzu-Zibagwe legislator’s succession bid.

The faction’s concerns are growing after the ousting of the Madiro
executive - which now faces criminal prosecution.

Madiro has been one of Mnangagwa’s staunchest supporters because
he helped co-ordinate many schemes in the faction, having served as financial
director of the party at one point.

Faction loyalists feel that the diamonds cash scandal was a
distraction, overshadowing the Mnangagwa faction’s work, including constructing the first conference centre for the party outside Harare.

“It’s pretty obvious that the political knives are out for Ngwenya
(Mnangagwa),” said a Mnangagwa faction member who is also a Zanu PF consultative assembly member.

Like other aides spoken to, he also declined to be named. He
claimed the suspensions were a way to wield “political knives” to attack Mnangagwa’s bid to succeed Mugabe, expressing disappointment that affidavits from diamond executives clearly stating that no cash exchanged hands were ignored.

“There is no credible evidence, all the diamond companies have
said they did not give them any money, isn’t that right?” said a politburo member loyal to the Ngwena faction.

“We know their plan to suspend the suspension after the elections.

“All of the evidence confronts them, frankly... we just did not
see enough time spent on discussing those issues. They just wanted to suspend them.”

A former Zanu PF provincial chairperson warned that it was such
“injustices” that catalysed the so-called bhora musango strategy.

“The guys who have been loyal to Madiro can clearly see this is victimisation. Do you expect such people to campaign for the party? We are shooting ourselves in the foot here.”

Mnangagwa was unreachable yesterday.

None of the faction’s top officials have abandoned him, meaning
Mujuru faction’s loyalists would have to resort to procedural tactics to try to nail him.

A distraught Madiro, who was suspended from Zanu PF for five years
from 2005 but bounced back as chairperson, has pleaded his innocence, saying he
is at loss of words why he has been singled out for vindictive treatment.

Mnangagwa is seen by many
to just be a younger version of the dictator Mugabe, and has often shown his
teeth and claws while in government. I don’t think he fears very many people –
and I often wonder if he even fears Mugabe…

-o00o-

Chinamasa will say anything
to still the troubled water – even if the disturbance in the water was made by
him in the first place.

How can the draft
constitution be ‘beautiful’? It can only be that if passed in a referendum for
the Zimbabwean people.

The Draft Constitution, which is scheduled to be presented before
a referendum next month, is a victory for the country owing to its defence of the national interest, a Cabinet minister has said.

In an interview last week, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabweans should vote for the document in the impending poll.

He said going against it would defeat the interests of Zimbabwe and the fight against imperialism.

“This is a beautiful document. If by chance it is rejected, I can
assure you it will be a defeat for the interests of Zimbabweans and those who sacrificed their lives for the independence of this country,” he said.

“We have managed to protect those issues that are dear to us. The
land issue is a foregone conclusion. We agreed that it is irreversible. The issues which were in contention are now history.

“We have made sure that our revolution has been consolidated.”

Chinamasa said concessions made around the devolution of power also made the proposed
supreme law a worthwhile piece of legislation.

He said it was in the interest of Zimbabwe that parties to the Global Political Agreement acceded to ensure power was delegated to the smallest unit of the country.

“As a party and Government we have always wanted to delegate
duties to the smallest unit of our community throughout the country.

“We have never had problems with that arrangement as a party.”

The minister added that Zimbabweans in the Diaspora will not be
barred from voting provided they are on the voters’ roll.

“We, as a Government, have never denied people in the Diaspora the
chance to vote, provided these people are registered voters. Those who can
afford to come and vote should do so.

People just want to make noise and most of these noises have no justification. Why should we do that? Are people asked to produce their passports so that they can cast their votes?

“All you need to do is to produce your national identification and
be on the voters’ roll.” He also urged all Zanu-PF supporters to vote “Yes” during the constitutional referendum.

“People also need to realise that it is a compromise document.
However, I can assure all Zimbabweans that we have successfully defended all those issues which are dear to us.

“So, it is all systems go for a ‘Yes’ vote. What we are not going
to do is take our few resources to go and register people in the Diaspora to vote.

“The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) will not do that. The Registrar-General’s Department will also not do that. Let those who want to vote come and vote.”

Zimbabwe will next month hold a constitutional
referendum to vote on the Draft Constitution crafted through a process led by the Constitution Select Committee.

Last week, the Draft was tabled before the House of Assembly and
Senate where legislators threw their weight behind it.

President Mugabe is now expected to announce the date of the
referendum.

Presenting the document in the Lower House last Wednesday, Copac co-chair Mr Douglas
Mwonzora said Zimbabweans should support the Draft.

“This constitution is a very good document. It has brought
national healing amongst us as legislators,” he said.

“We were always together. You would not have been able to
distinguish between MDC-T and Zanu-PF officials during the
(crafting) process.”

“We have shown tolerance, peace and love amongst ourselves; we
have shown the oneness in nation-building during this constitution-making
process.”

I have seen that some
senior members of the MDC
have seen the constitution draft as a capitulation to ZANU PF demands, whilst
others say that the document is the best that they could hope for seeing as
they are supping with the devil.

-o00o-

What kind of country cannot
offer basic health and treatment to the people? A failed AfricanState
– and one which needs to be sorted out from tip to toe and everything and
anyone in between.

Not even the President
receives medical treatment in Zimbabwe!

Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has suffered serious
financial prejudice from theft and fraud by its staffers, resulting in the misappropriation of $68000 and 18000 Rand.

Permanent secretary Gerald Gwinje on Friday briefed the portfolio
committee on Public Accounts that the ministry has been struggling to recover the money from the employees, with some having fled the country after being reported to the police.

Appearing before the legislative committee chaired by MDC legislator for Highfield West Simon Hove, Gwinje, together with director of finance in the ministry Leonard Mabhadhi, exposed expenditure overruns, fuel usage, and cannibalism of government vehicles by the ministry’s workers.

Gwinje was asked to account for the misappropriated $68000 and
18000 Rand and another $72000 that was not accounted for from money received
from Treasury.

“We made reports to the police to help recover the money and in
one case someone was arrested and about $3000 was recovered but the other outstanding money is still to be recovered,” Gwinje said.

“We have now introduced courses of financial management and
bookkeeping to our managers so they can know how to handle the cash.”

Gwinje said $72000 had been used to repair vehicles in the
ministry and was paid to several garages in the country.

He also said some of the misappropriation happened before he was
appointed permanent secretary in the ministry.

“Some of the things happened before my time and this is why some
of the audits were not done, but when I was appointed in April 2009 I have tried to put tight financial systems to control the abuse of funds, and so far it has worked,” said Gwinje.

He said as a measure of controlling the abuse of fuel by senior
health managers and medical officers, the ministry had introduced the use of coupons as opposed to vehicles collecting fuel from hospital tanks.

Gwinje also told the committee that he had also stopped some cases
of double payment as 45 employees were receiving two salaries, one from government
and the other from the Global Fund.

“This was notified during the audit and it was rectified as it was
realised that it had happened for a long from 2008 before I become permanent secretary and I had to stop it because regulations do not allow that,” said Gwinje.

Hove advised Gwinje to rein-in his staff and
introduce tight financial mechanisms as the public funds were being fleeced.

Gwinje admitted that the abuse was happening at the district
hospitals and main referral centres as people are paying cash to hospitals to seek treatment.

The committee also complained about the attitude and arrogance that patients were being subjected to by nurses and doctors as many patients were spending long
hours waiting to be treated.

“It now takes eight hours for one to be attended at the major
hospitals like Parirenyatwa and HarareCentralHospital and this is the reason why the former minister of Health Herbert Ushewekunzwe once visited them in disguise and
beat up nurses and doctors who were neglecting patients,” said Hove.

Gwinje admitted the problem but blamed it on the young and
inexperienced staff manning the hospitals.

“We have faced challenges in that we have lost experienced staff
and this is why we having these problems, but we are trying to address it by emphasising on the course of medical ethics to our trainee students,” said Gwinje.

He said the health sector was on a recovery path as most of the
public hospitals had medicines and equipment that was being donated by foreign partners.

Parliament committees act as watchdogs to various government ministries and have
powers to summon Cabinet ministers and senior government officials to appear
before to them to answer issues and questions that are in the public interest.

Most of the meetings are open to the public for hearing with some
of them being closed sessions.

The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has suffered a lot of
challenges including misappropriation of funds in hospitals.

One student in 5 passed
exams… Is this acceptable – anywhere in the world, quite apart from Zimbabwe
which used to have the highest standard of education in Southern
Africa?

Revelations that the much publicised poor Ordinary Level pass rate
is actually the best in 12 years will do little to allay fears that Zimbabwe’s education system is free-falling.

Education minister David Coltart on Friday released statistics
that showed students actually performed better last year than in the previous years, as he sought to quell criticism that he is presiding over an education system that is weakening.

The figures, provided by Zimsec, may be accurate but sadly, they
won’t bring any cheer except to illustrate the crisis that is inherent in Zimbabwe’s schools.

An 18,4% pass rate is not something parents, educators and students can be proud of. Rather, it is a wake-up call that an unacceptable number of students who are sitting for the O-Level examinations are failing and therefore, something urgently needs to be done to stop that trend.

That is the important task the government, which has been
underfunding the sector, should be seized with this year.

A simple examination of the learning institutions shows a lot of
issues need attention. The condition of service for teachers remains a sore issue.

It’s common cause that disgruntled teachers cannot give their best
to students when they are always planning strikes.

Schools lack adequate textbooks and qualified personnel after
thousands of teachers left the country between 2005 and 2008.

In the farms there is chaos. Thousands of new schools that were
created without planning following the land reform exercise lack the basics needed to make learning possible.

Temporary teachers who mainly teach pupils there lack basic
resources such as chalk.

In towns and cities, there has been a proliferation of colleges
offering secondary level studies. Little learning takes place at some of these institutions whose pupils are found roaming in the streets and cyber loafing most of the time.

These colleges need to be monitored in order to ensure that they
uphold standards needed for proper learning to take place.

Instead of politicking and finger-pointing, responsible
authorities should explore ways to ensure the education system is revamped as a matter of urgency.

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About Me

Born in the Kentish town of Royal Tunbridge Wells way back in February 1963, I am the fourth of five children. My late father was South African and my mother is from Scotland.
The family moved to what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in November 1964.
I joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police force in February 1981 straight after leaving school, specialising in prosecutions, based in Essexvale (now Esigodini), Plumtree and Gwanda.
As with many policemen (in Africa), once I left the service in 1985, I went into sales and then moved into management.
I was based in various places within Zimbabwe, including Chiredzi in the Lowveld, Mutare in the Eastern Highlands, and, of course, Harare.
A brief (but tiring) employment with an international trucking company saw me travelling the length and breadth (and depth) of Southern Africa which I found most enlightening.
My wife and I returned to England in December 1998.
Following an accident at work in August 2000, I was left disabled.
I am now studying for a BA(Hons) in Criminal Justice with the University of Essex Online - and loving it!